Spring 1947
MIGRATION · JOURNEY
The Westward Ho transports to Britain, 1947 to 1949
Displaced-persons camps in Germany and Austria → Hostels across Britain
Ukrainians were recruited under the Westward Ho! scheme from displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria from the spring of 1947, most arriving in the second half of 1947 and the first half of 1948, with the last in 1949. Official figures give 20,912 Ukrainian European Voluntary Workers, accommodated in hostels close to their work and paid the same wages as British workers; just over half the men were first placed in agriculture. In the autumn of 1948 former soldiers of the Galicia Division, released from prisoner-of-war status, joined the scheme.
1947 to 1948
The recruitment document promises work in agriculture, coal mining and the iron and steel industries for men, and textiles, laundries, domestic work and nursing for women, with communal hostel or camp accommodation
1947 to 1949
Seedorf serves as a staging camp for movement to Britain under the scheme, with later departures towards Australia and New Zealand through Genoa
Autumn 1948
Former soldiers of the Galicia Division, released from prisoner-of-war status, join the scheme
Sources
From 1951